"THERE was a bang and the train started swaying. I thought it was going to roll over and thought that was going to be it."

Those were the words of one terrified passenger on the ill-fated 14.25 Plymouth to Edinburgh express which partially derailed after smashing into a car at 100mph - killing its driver - on the outskirts of Copmanthorpe, near York.

Miraculously none of the Virgin service's 74 passengers were injured in the collision, which happened on the East Coast Main Line.

Virgin spokesman Arthur Leathley said: "The amazing thing is that the train, travelling at 100mph, has stayed upright."

Today, as an investigation continued, delays were expected to hit rush-hour services.

Death on the tracks

TERRIFIED passengers today told how they felt "a huge bang" and residents' homes shook as a Virgin Cross Country train was derailed after colliding with a car - killing its driver - at more than 100mph.

The diesel train, which was on its way from Plymouth to Edinburgh, was forced off the line after the crash in Moor Lane, Copmanthorpe, at 8.55pm last night.

Villagers whose houses back on to the railway line described hearing a loud noise, which sounded like a much larger freight train passing, and felt their rooms shake.

The driver of the vehicle was killed in the collision and efforts are being made to identify him.

Passengers froze in their seats as the train careered along the track for nearly two minutes, carrying the wreckage of the vehicle for up to a mile and a half, before coming to a sudden halt.

Police said the front carriage of the train was derailed but none of the 74 passengers and its driver were thought to have been injured.

The car left the road on a dark and quiet country lane and crashed through a fence before landing on the track.

Residents say Moor Lane is not regularly used by traffic apart from a few farmers passing over a level crossing further up the line.

Passengers were left sitting on the train for an hour and a half as emergency services made sure it was safe and they were then escorted on to waiting coaches.

Police said the travellers were taken to a reception centre before being carried to their eventual destinations.

Passenger Joe Horsfall, 21, of Edinburgh, said: "We felt a bang at first but didn't know what it was and then the whole train started shaking all over the place.

"We knew there was a something on the track but we didn't know if it was a car.

"The lights went off and then came back on again."

Resident Chris Martin, 28, whose house overlooks the track, said: "Trains go past and the house shakes a little bit - but this was a million times worse.

"Everyone came out to see what had happened - even houses much further away were shaking."

Paula Barratt and her daughter, Louisa, of Barons Crescent, some 150 yards from the line, felt a vibration run through the house.

"The staircase started rattling," said Mrs Barratt. "Then we started hearing all the sirens. I thought at first there had been a bad crash at a dangerous crossroads."

Lesley Hill, 27, lives in Fairfax Croft, right next to where the train came to rest, and spoke to the driver.

She said: "The whole house just started shaking and then came the screech. I spoke to the driver - he came out and went Where are we? Where are we?' "I said where we were, and he kept on repeating himself - I think he was in shock.

"One man said the impact had caused his television to fall off a shelf."

Sue Cooney, of Spain, who was visiting relatives in Fairfax Croft, said: "It was like an earthquake when it shook."

Mark Hirst, 26, also of Fairfax Croft, said: "It happened a mile down the track, but it's lucky it has not touched one of the houses, or derailed even worse than it has."

DCI Danny Snee, of British Transport Police, who is leading the inquiry, said: "Tragically, the male driver of the vehicle has died and there will be an investigation to find out exactly what happened.

"We have in excess of 20 officers here and, obviously, people from the fire brigade, ambulance and Network Rail who are carrying out inquiries."

He added: "The driver said he saw the car at the last minute.

"It has been badly damaged and there are bits and pieces all over the place."

Chiefs work through night

RAIL bosses worked through the night at the scene of the accident in a bid to minimise disruption for passengers today.

Peter Marsh, customer service manager for Network Rail, speaking at 1.30am, said that two of the four tracks at Copmanthorpe - which had been most badly affected by the crash - would definitely be out of action during the morning rush hour.

"We are hopeful that we can re-open the other two tracks by morning," he said. "If so, we should be able to run a pretty normal service from York to London, and a near normal service from York to Leeds.

"But it all depends on us being able to use the tracks again."

A GNER spokeswoman said five trains on the East Coast line through York yesterday evening were halted by the crash, with passengers from four northbound trains taken by bus from Doncaster to York, where they joined another train heading north. Passengers from one southbound train were taken by bus from York to Doncaster.

He said it was not possible to say in the early hours how much disruption, if any, would be caused to train services later today.

A Virgin spokesman said he expected there would be some delays to services today, although the company hoped to run a full service.

Line no stranger to tragedy

THE fatal smash between the car and the train happened just 14 days after another tragedy of the same stretch of track.

Little more than 100 yards away on the Northern side of Copmanthorpe, a young woman died after being struck by a train, causing delays to hundreds of commuters.

A British Transport Police spokeswoman said the driver of the train - the GNER 05.26 Newcastle to Kings Cross service - saw the 22year-old standing in the middle of the track as the train approached. It was unable to stop before hitting her at around 100mph.

Naomi Coley-Rogan, 22, from Manchester was killed instantly as she stood on the track at 6.40am on August 7.The incident caused delays to hundreds of commuters travelling with GNER, TransPennine Express, Northern Trains and Virgin Trains.

The village of Copmanthorpe stands little more than 20 miles from the site of the Selby rail crash which killed 10 people in 2001.

In that incident, reported on on our front page of February 28, 2001, a Land Rover driven by Gary Hart left the M62 motorway, plunged down an embankment and stopped on the East Coast Main Line at Great Heck near Selby, where it derailed a Newcastle-to-London high-speed service.

Passengers relive horror

Michael Williamson, 26, from Northumberland, said: "It started shaking and stones were being thrown up at the side of the track. People were asking if it was going to be another Selby train crash."

Darren Baker, from Dudley, said: "I thought it was going to roll over. It was frightening."

Chris Storey, from Morpeth, Northumberland, said: "There was a loud noise and everything started to shake. After about five to ten seconds, it came to a stop and there was an announcement that there had been a derailment."

Lei Jin, 23, a student at University of York, said: "The train started shaking. Another student, Ling Wu, hurt her leg - it was bruised."

Rocky Joplin, 46, a scaffolder, from Darlington, said: "Someone smacked themselves against the side of the carriage. We were all in a bit of shock really."

Dave Lamport, 33, of Stockton on Tees, said: "It could easily have been another Selby, but the driver was first class. He hit the emergency brake very quickly. There was a loud bang and a big jolt. We were all bouncing and holding on for dear life. The driver said we were doing 104mph when we hit it."

Robert Strivens, 46, of Banbury, said: "I was at the back. There was a bang, it had obviously hit something, and we heard it going over something disintegrating."

Steven Drake, 19, of Loughborough, said: "I just heard a big bang, then there was loads of gravel going everywhere. It was a big crash, and it happened very quickly."

Rachel Wilkinson, 22, a graduate from York, said: "They didn't tell us anything while we were waiting on the train. They said it a derailment."

Joe Horsfall, 21, of Edinburgh, said: "At first people were screaming but then they went quiet.

"No-one was doing anything or panicking and we were just staring at each other. Then the train stopped."

David Craigie, of Newcastle, said: "The whole train shook. The shock just got to people at first. I felt the impact and then we were dragged along the ground quite hard for about a mile and a half."

Ashley Levens, 36, from York, said: "It was very scary and we didn't know what was going on. We were sitting there for about an hour and a half."

Jamie Bulmer, 20, a student from Knaresborough, said: "At first they told us to go to the front of the train and then to the back of the train and we couldn't understand that. We weren't told why."